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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23278243">a little bit of heaven</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/extrastellar/pseuds/extrastellar'>extrastellar</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Family Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Post Mpreg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:27:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,782</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23278243</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/extrastellar/pseuds/extrastellar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nijimura wasn't sure what kind of father he expected Haizaki to be. He expected him to be clumsy, anxious.</p><p>And he is those things. But he's also gentle and soft and fiercely protective.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Haizaki Shougo/Nijimura Shuuzou</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>52</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>a little bit of heaven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nijimura’s every muscle hurt. His legs felt like jelly, his entire back ached and the throb between his legs was incessant. Tossing and turning in bed didn’t make it better, the pain keeping him from falling asleep. And to add to that, his favourite sleeping position had become impossible, else he’d rip his stitches.</p><p>“Oi”, he whispered into the dark of the room and nudged Haizaki with his foot. “Shougo.”</p><p>Haizaki grunted but didn’t wake up. Instead, the baby between them let out a little mewl and Nijimura cursed himself, holding his breath. Hinami settled down again, scrunching up her little nose as she yawned. Nijimura’s heart throbbed.</p><p>He glanced over at Haizaki, illuminated by the light from the lantern just outside their apartment falling through the blinds. Silver hair a mess as usual, but he was sleeping peacefully, curled around their newborn daughter in protection. They had squabbled about whose way she should face before going to bed and Nijimura was slightly smug to see that she was turned towards him, even if her little fist clutched the edge of Haizaki’s shirt.</p><p>Some part of him still couldn’t believe this was real. The throb between his legs told him it very much was. He didn’t go through 14 hours of labour for nothing. Nijimura winced. Just thinking about it – ouch. He didn’t feel like having anything go down there for at least two months.</p><p>But it had been worth it. Jesus, all the screaming his throat raw, cursing Haizaki just about any way he knew (the guy had gone paler than Kuroko) and the indescribable pain basically ripping him in half had been worth it.</p><p>She was here. After nine months, she was here: Haizaki Hinami, 2.9 kilos, 49cm, a patch of soft black hair on her head and blue eyes that would either stay that way or fade to Haizaki’s stormy grey.</p><p>Nijimura smiled. She had screamed even louder than Nijimura when she was born, which was really saying something, and Haizaki had trembled like a leaf when she was placed on Nijimura’s torso, squalling at the top of her tiny little lungs.</p><p>Precious.</p><p>Nijimura turned away as slowly as he could and climbed out of bed. A mistake, it immediately felt like fire was crawling up between his legs and Nijimura clenched his teeth as he limped into the kitchen where they had frozen packs in the freezer, prepared for this exact situation. He flicked the light on, wincing at its brightness and fumbled a frozen pack into a dishtowel. It was cold enough to hurt his fingers, but all Nijimura cared about was soothing the burn in his perineum.</p><p>He lowered himself onto the ice pack and hissed in relief when the cold numbed the incessant throbbing burn.</p><p>A mewl came from the bedroom and Nijimura closed his eyes. He should just leave it to Haizaki, he had just sat down and by the time he’d limped back into the bedroom, Hinami would be wide awake and wailing.</p><p>Just as sudden as her mewling had started, it stopped. Nijimura opened his eyes again and craned his neck to the side to see Haizaki come out of their bedroom, eyes still bleary and blinking like his lids weighed tons. He had Hinami propped up against his shoulder, one hand supporting her head, the other holding her at her bum.</p><p>Nijimura gave him a tired smile. “Hi.”</p><p>“Hi”, Haizaki said gravelly.</p><p>“She okay?”</p><p>Haizaki yawned but nodded. “Think she’s jus’ upset ‘cause your scent was gone.”</p><p>Nijimura remembered the nurse telling them about how important it was for newborns to imprint on their parents after birth and how sensitive they were to scents within the first days, a reason why unfamiliar visitors shouldn’t start coming by until they made the first week. “Sorry.”</p><p>Haizaki shuffled over and he looked so domestic in his worn pyjama pants, the soft, long-sleeved white shirt with their daughter nestled against him, Nijimura almost felt like crying. Goddamn his hormones. They were still all out of whack, even a week after the birth. Although it would take months for them to go back to normal, according to the doctor. Yeay.</p><p>“You okay?”, Haizaki asked and curled up on the couch next to him. Hinami let out a soft mewl and Haizaki shushed her softly.</p><p>“Nope”, Nijimura said and gestured at the icepack beneath him. “Couldn’t sleep.”</p><p>Haizaki frowned. “You take some painkillers?”</p><p>“Not while I’m breastfeeding her”, Nijimura said. He and Haizaki had an entire cupboard stacked with paracetamol and ibuprofen and other meds, but now that Nijimura was feeding Hinami, the contents of that cupboard were basically useless.</p><p>“Sorry”, Haizaki mumbled.</p><p>“Stop apologising like it’s your fault, brat”, Nijimura sighed and dropped his head on Haizaki’s free shoulder, watching Hinami nibble on the shirt. Their daughter immediately turned her tiny head towards his scent, sniffling. Nijimura smiled.</p><p>“Hey”, he whispered and booped her on the nose. Hinami only yawned and it was about the cutest thing Nijimura had ever seen.</p><p>“You don’t gotta stay out here, I know you’re tired”, he said and gave Haizaki a nudge.</p><p>His husband gave him a foul look. “Don’t be dumb. I’m stayin’ right here until you’re better.”</p><p>“Might take a few weeks.”</p><p>“Point?” Haizaki shifted Hinami to his other side so that he could knock his forehead against Nijimura’s. “C’mon, Shuu.”</p><p>Nijimura scoffed and muttered under his breath but put his head back on Haizaki’s shoulder. The burning ache between his legs had dulled to a mild, numb throb and his eyelids were starting to get heavy.</p><p>He slipped back to sleep before he knew it.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Nijimura woke up in bed and alone. He blinked heavily and patted on the other side of the bed, the sheets still warm, but empty.</p><p>“Shougo?”, he called, voice still raspy from sleep.</p><p>“Kitchen!”, Haizaki called back.</p><p>Nijimura grunted and heaved himself out of bed. He grimaced when he felt a gush of blood ooze out of him.</p><p>“Fuck”, he muttered and limped into the adjacent bathroom to change the pad. The bleeding was a pain, both literal and metaphorical.</p><p>He washed his hands and splashed some water in his face before shuffling through the hallway into the kitchen where Haizaki was preparing breakfast, Hinami in her rolling crib at a safe distance from the stove.</p><p>“Morning”, Haizaki said.</p><p>“Morning”, Nijimura replied and scratched his stomach. “How long’ve you been up?”</p><p>“Not long.” Haizaki stirred the miso soup. “Hinami needed a fresh diaper and you slept right through it.”</p><p>Nijimura winced. “Sorry.”</p><p>“Ach, you looked like you needed that extra sleep”, Haizaki said and grinned at him. “Hungry?”</p><p>Nijimura’s stomach growled in reply. “Starving. Hey, how did I get to bed last night?”</p><p>Haizaki put a bowl of rice and miso soup before him, then flipped the grilled fish. “Carried you, duh. I put Hinami to bed and then you. You were out cold.”</p><p>“I don’t remember a thing”, Nijimura mumbled and spoke a quiet “Ittadakimasu” before digging in. How Haizaki managed to make even miso soup so ridiculously delicious was beyond him.</p><p>Haizaki plated the fish, put it on the table and sat down, reaching back to pull Hinami’s crib closer. Nijimura immediately smiled and straightened to look at their daughter.</p><p>“Hi Hinami”, he cooed and tickled her stomach. Hinami made a little noise in the back of her throat. Nijimura melted a little. “I think her eyes are becoming silver.”</p><p>“I think your brain’s still cotton candy”, Haizaki said through a mouthful of rice. “She’s eight days old.”</p><p>“Oi, don’t you have any respect for mother’s intuition?”, Nijimura asked and pointed at Haizaki with his chopsticks.</p><p>“Nah”, Haizaki said. “Not when said mother’s been awake for three minutes and his eyes are still half-closed.”</p><p>“Screw you”, Nijimura said, but he had to grin.</p><p>“Ah, remember Ryouta’s coming over today”, Haizaki said. “He’s been getting on my nerves since forever.”</p><p>“Right”, Nijimura said. Kise was Hinami’s godfather, but he still wasn’t blood family which meant the one-week-rule applied to him. “He’s not bringing Kasamatsu, right?”</p><p>Haizaki shook his head. “No. Just him, but fuck, that’s already enough.”</p><p>Nijimura shot him a venomous look. “Oi, no swearing!”</p><p>“She’s eight days old, Shuu! Cut me some slack!”</p><p>“No way, you’re a creature of habit and I’m going to beat that habit out of you if necessary.”</p><p>“Sheesh.” Haizaki leaned back in his chair and tilted to the side, looking at Hinami. “Oi, Hinami, protect your old dad, will you?”</p><p>A gurgle.</p><p>“See?” Haizaki grinned at him. “She agrees.”</p><p>“Sure she does”, Nijimura said. “When’s Kise coming over?”</p><p>Haizaki checked his phone. “Two hours. Think we should give her a bath before?”</p><p>Nijimura finished his breakfast. “Her first bath, just for Kise? He should feel honoured.”</p><p>Haizaki grinned. “Hell yeah he should!”</p><p>Nijimura glared at him.</p><p>“<em>Heck</em> yeah! I meant heck yeah!”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Nijimura wasn’t sure what kind of father he’d expected Haizaki to be. He expected him to be clumsy and anxious, the way he’d been through most of Nijimura’s pregnancy. God knew how many pep talks he’d given Haizaki when he felt like he would be a terrible father. Hell, even the way Haizaki had behaved during the birth had indicated that it would take him a while to settle in as a dad.</p><p>And well, Haizaki was those things. He was clumsy and anxious, but he was also soft and uncharacteristically gentle. He always got up when Hinami was crying because he knew Nijimura was still hurting from the birth. He took care of nearly all household chores with only minimum complaining, and even that was good-natured. And he’d settled in as a dad much quicker than Nijimura had settled in as a mom.</p><p>Nijimura watched as Haizaki blew a raspberry on Hinami’s stomach, coaxing a delighted mewl out of her. Her hands grabbed his hair and he hissed when he couldn’t come back up.</p><p>“Shuu, little help?”, he yelped as Hinami pulled.</p><p>“What, can’t handle an eight-day-old?”, Nijimura teased but gently unclasped Hinami’s fingers from her father’s hair. “Good girl, Hinami.”</p><p>“Oi!”, Haizaki called and elbowed Nijimura. Nijimura retorted by karate-chopping him between the ribs, coaxing a grunt out of his husband. “Oof.”</p><p>Hinami’s eyes had been open during the whole bath, probably the longest they were open since she was born. She had looked at her parents full of wonder and if Nijimura had cried, then that was because soap had gotten in his eyes.</p><p>(He knew Haizaki knew better, but still.)</p><p>“I think I’m gonna put her in Tetsuya’s rompers, just to piss Ryouta off”, Haizaki mused and pulled a soft, baby blue rompers with little white clouds on it out of the drawer beneath her changing table.</p><p>“You like that, Hinami?”</p><p>Hinami snuffled.</p><p>“That’s what I thought”, Haizaki said and lifted Hinami up to put her rompers beneath her. Her tiny legs kicked out and for a second, it looked like she’d fall off Haizaki’s arm and Nijimura darted forward, but Haizaki quickly managed to get her back on the changing table. Nijimura’s heart was racing in his chest. “Where did you wanna go, heh?”</p><p>If someone had told him one year ago that Haizaki would be talking to a week old baby like he would with any other person, Nijimura would have laughed and made a doctor’s appointment for them.</p><p>But right now, it seemed so natural.</p><p>Haizaki finished buttoning up Hinami’s rompers and handed her over to Nijimura. “And off you go to Mom. I’m gonna clean up the mess in the bathroom.”</p><p>“Thanks”, Nijimura said and propped Hinami up against his chest where she immediately nuzzled against him. His heart felt too big for his chest.</p><p>He walked into the living room, Hinami’s tiny fist clutched at the edge of his t-shirt and Nijimura marvelled at how merely a week ago, this tiny little human had been rolling around in his belly. And she’d done a lot of rolling and kicking, Nijimura was honestly surprised he didn’t have any broken ribs.</p><p>He sat on the couch and put Hinami on his thighs. She liked laying on her back (for now) and Nijimura thought it was just the most adorable thing.</p><p>“Shit”, he said under his breath, his voice thick. Hinami kicked her little legs out and latched on to his finger when he held it out to her.</p><p>Nijimura fumbled for his phone, nearly dropping the device twice before he managed to snap a photo of how Hinami was staring up at the camera out of wide, blue eyes, her tiny hand wrapped around his little finger.</p><p>The doorbell broke the peace and Hinami’s face scrunched up. Nijimura knew that face. Hinami started crying and he quickly lifted her back up, patting her back to calm her down.</p><p>“I’m getting it!”, Haizaki called and shuffled past Nijimura to the front door.</p><p>Nijimura could her Haizaki greeting slash snapping at Kise in the entryway, but his entire attention was focused on calming Hinami back down. Her cries finally ebbed back down to sniffles and eventually, she just hiccupped and that was the end of it.</p><p>“Good girl”, he crooned and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Why did babies smell so good?</p><p>“Hi, Nijimuracchi!”, Kise whisper-shouted and waved from the doorway to the living room. “Is she asleep?”</p><p>“You literally just heard her cry, dumbass”, Haizaki said behind him and squeezed past him into the living room. “She okay?”</p><p>“The doorbell just scared her, we should put up a sign”, Nijimura said and handed his daughter back over to his husband. “Kise, good to see you.”</p><p>“And you!” Kise beamed, basically vibrating in excitement. “You look great, Nijimuracchi!”</p><p>Well, he still had some of the pregnancy glow and he had regained his usual skin colour after losing all that blood during the birth, but he had dark bags beneath his eyes, was dressed in joggers and a t-shirt and he still had some of the belly. “Uh, thanks.”</p><p>Kise edged closer. “Is that her?”</p><p>“No, it’s Atsushi”, Haizaki said dryly. “Of course it’s her.”</p><p>“Mean, Shougo-kun~!”, Kise whined and came closer, golden eyes widening in wonder as Haizaki turned so that Hinami, her eyes closed, faced her godfather. “Wow.”</p><p>‘That’s the word’, Nijimura thought and smiled as Kise bowed over his goddaughter, cooing softly.</p><p>Hinami’s nose scrunched up as she detected the unfamiliar smell and she let out a mewl.</p><p>“Wuah!” Kise stepped back. “Is she okay?”</p><p>“You’re the first person outside of the family she’s smelling, it’s just unfamiliar”, Nijimura said. “Go on, it’s okay.”</p><p>“You sure?”</p><p>“Kise.” Nijimura sighed. “I told you it’s okay.”</p><p>“Okay, okay.” Kise stepped closer again. “Hey, she’s not wearing my rompers!”</p><p>“Nope”, Haizaki said with a shit-eating grin on his face. “That’s Tetsuya’s.”</p><p>“Kurokocchi’s?!” Kise let out a squawk. “Mean! I’m her godfather!”</p><p>Hinami mewled again and kicked her little legs, eyes blinking open. Nijimura smiled.</p><p>“Do you know how to hold a baby?”, Haizaki asked.</p><p>Kise nodded. “Yeah! I held Nee-san’s baby plenty!”</p><p>“Alright”, Haizaki said and transferred their daughter over into Kise’s waiting arms. “Support her head properly or I’ll rip yours off.”</p><p>“Noted”, Kise said cheerfully and sat down, slower than he probably ever had in his life. Hinami wriggled in his grip, her little nose up in the air as she took in the new scent. “Oh, hi Hinami-chan. Nijimuracchi, she has your eyes!”</p><p>“That’s not their final colour”, Nijimura said. “I think they’re turning silver already.”</p><p>Kise looked down at the baby in his arms. “Eh, no, I don’t think so.”</p><p>“Oi, don’t talk back to your seniors.”</p><p>“Nijimuracchi, we’re 29 years old.”</p><p>“Still.”</p><p>Haizaki snorted. “Petty much, Shuu?”</p><p>Nijimura shoved him with his hip. “Shut up, Shougo.”</p><p>Kise cooed, but when they looked, it wasn’t at Hinami. Kise was looking directly at them and Nijimura felt very caught. “Aw, you guys are such cute parents~”</p><p>“Shuddup, Ryouta”, Haizaki said, but he was struggling to hide a smile.</p><p>Nijimura found himself smiling along. He loved Haizaki, of course, he wouldn’t have married him and gone through nine months of pregnancy and 14 hours of hell on earth to give birth to their child otherwise.</p><p>But seeing him like this, his ragged edges softening the second he laid eyes on their daughter, made him fall a little bit more in love every day.</p><p>Nijimura felt a burn behind his eyes and cursed the stupid pregnancy hormones. And if Haizaki’s hand settled on his waist, his thumb rubbing circles there, then that was okay.</p><p>This was a little bit of heaven here on earth and Nijimura was here for it all.</p><p> </p>
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